Senate kills bill to strip former legislators from state retirement system

Baton Rouge -- Sen. Danny Martiny successfully led the charge Wednesday to kill a bill that would have removed former legislators from the state's main retirement system, a measure the bill's sponsor said is necessary to prevent abuses. Martiny, one of the few sitting legislators who could be affected by the bill, offered an impassioned argument against both the specific measure and what he described as "grandstanding" that gives elected officials a bad reputation by implying they would take advantage of the system.

Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Metairie

The Metairie Republican wrapped up his attack on Senate Bill 727 by introducing an amendment that would require all legislators to register in the same system as sex offenders, a sarcastic move he implied was the logical extension of the way he said lawmakers have been vilified in recent years.

"I know it seems like it's funny, but it's just a sad statement of where we are today," Martiny said.

The theatric display may have been unnecessary, as the bill was involuntarily deferred by an overwhelming 35-3 vote. A majority of lawmakers would have to agree to bring the bill back for consideration.

Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, has pushed the measure as a way to prevent legislators from boosting their retirement earnings by taking high-paying jobs with the state after they leave office. Some former lawmakers, including Noble Ellington and Troy Hebert, now have six-figure jobs with the state and, because retirement benefits are calculated based on the three highest years of salary, could receive a significantly larger benefit than they would based on the $38,000 base salary provided to legislators.

Claitor's bill would only affect long-serving legislators, since voters passed a constitutional amendment that barred new state lawmakers from the pension system in 1996. All those who are currently in the pension system would be able to keep the benefits they had already earned and would be eligible to continue in some retirement systems, just not the one that covers the majority of rank-and-file employees.

Claitor said he knew of four current members of the Senate who would be impacted by the bill: Sens. Sharon Weston Broome, Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb, Edwin Murray and John Smith, all of whom ended up voting against the bill.

"I'm looking to enforce our pact with the electorate, with the voters of Louisiana that we're part-time officials," Claitor said.

Several lawmakers questioned the bill, including Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, who said that it would amount to changing the rules in midstream. Similar arguments have been made by opponents of the governor's proposed overhaul of the state retirement system.

The bad reputation of legislators in Louisiana is due, in part, to lawmakers who "keep telling people we're crooks and keep telling people we don't deserve a pay raise," Martiny said. He went on to say that recent ethics laws have scared away potential elected officials who are afraid of the consequences of being accused of accepting meals from lobbyists.

"It's sad when we have to grandstand on each other, just so we can turn around and tell everybody, 'See how good we are?'" he said.

The apex of Martiny's argument was a sarcastic amendment to require all legislators to go through the same registration process as sex offenders and provide the same kinds of notifications that are required for sex offenders in the community. No vote was taken on that amendment.

Martiny suggested such measures are a distraction from more important work.

"We're $211 million in the hole, we've got a ton of things to do and what are we fighting about? We're trying to make sure nobody goes to work for anybody after they leave the Legislature," Martiny said.